The government reported a total of 212 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday — 187 local infections, 6 from active testing and 19 arrivals from abroad — raising the cumulative total past 10,000 to 10,053, with no new deaths.
Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA), urged people to download the Mor Chana contact-tracing app to help authorities keep the virus in check.
As of Saturday, a total of 1.68 million people had downloaded the smartphone app, the use of which has become mandatory in five heavily affected provinces.
To date, 112 people have received alerts from the app, Dr Taweesilp said. The figure included 45 people in the Bang Na area of Bangkok on Dec 31. On Jan 4, 67 residents of a community in the Samae Dam area populated by Myanmar nationals received the warnings, which were sent in three languages — Thai, English and Burmese.
The CCSA spokesman said the 187 new local infections were from Samut Sakhon (46 cases), Ang Thong (18), Ayutthaya (6), Pathum Thani (1), Nakhon Pathom (1), Loei (1), Nonthaburi (3), Bangkok (27), Chon Buri (26), Saraburi (1), Nakhon Si Thammarat (1), Trat (1), Prachin Buri (1), Ratchaburi (1) and Samut Prakan (124). Another 29 cases were being investigated — in Tak (1), Sing Buri (4), Samut Prakan (5), Chon Buri 14, Rayong (2) and Chanthaburi (3).
The six cases found in active testing were from Nong Bua Lamphu (1), Nonthaburi (1) and Bangkok (4).
Infections were also found in 14 people who arrived from overseas and were in state quarantine facilities — 4 from Germany, 3 each from Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, one each from Uganda and the United Kingdom and two from the United Sates.
The other five arrivals were from Myanmar. The five — four Thai women and one Myanmar national — received treatment at Mae Sot Hospital in Tak.
Of the 10,053 local cases, 5,546 (55.2%) had recovered, including 291 discharged over the previous 24 hours, and 4,440 were in hospitals or temporary field hospitals, the CCSA said. The death toll was unchanged at 67. The figures were as of midnight.
Global Covid-19 cases rose by 826,365 over the past 24 hours to 89.35 million. The worldwide death toll increased 14,788 to 1.92 million. The United States had the most cases at 22.45 million, up 301,655, with deaths topping 4,000 on the day. India was second with 10.43 million cases, up 18,482. Thailand ranked 129th.
In a related development, the Public Health Ministry said it was confident that the latest local Covid wave would slow down by the end of January.
However, it is warning of a new risk inside office buildings.